As ire grows, PM seeks to stave off state probe

[bemildred]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, under increasing pressure Monday to establish a state commission of inquiry to investigate the government and defense establishment's handling of the war, has instructed Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to present a list of alternatives to such an inquiry.

Protests against the conduct of the war are growing, led by petitions circulated by IDF reservists just back from the fighting in Lebanon.

At Olmert's request, Mazuz is to present the government by Thursday with several options for how to investigate the war in Lebanon.

Olmert is said to be weighing the concept of a governmental panel of inquiry, whose make-up would be determined by the cabinet and which would report directly to the cabinet. Publication of any of the findings would be entirely at the discretion of the cabinet ministers themselves.

Haaretz

[acmavm]

1. IDF is mad because they weren't allowed to kill any more civilians

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On Monday, one of the petitions, already signed by hundreds of soldiers, received wide exposure in the press. "The 'cold feet' of the decision-makers were evident everywhere," said the petition, signed by members of the reserve Spearhead Brigade. "To us the indecisiveness expressed deep disrespect for our willingness to join the ranks and fight and made us feel as though we had been spat at, since it contradicts the principles and values of warfare upon which we were trained at the Israel Defense Forces.

"The heavy feeling is that in the echelons above us there is nothing but under-preparation, insincerity, lack of foresight and inability to make rational decisions leads to the question ? were we called up for nothing?"


<snip>

What an ironic hoot...
'since it contradicts the principles and values of warfare'

Time to cut the angry little savages loose, let Israel go it all on their lonesome. Unlike the constantly parrotted "Israel just wants peace" this article shows that they really want nothing more than to kill.

[bemildred]

2. I sort of wondered who wrote that one.

It's classic "the civilians tied our hands" propaganda. Of course, the problem is that the argument has merit, to the extent that the war was most badly managed. If you are going to get a large portion of your population shelled and forced into shelters for a month, you ought to have a serious purpose and a realistic plan to achieve realistic goals. That was all sadly lacking. The same can be said of calling up tens of thousands of reservists and sending them into harms way. Soldiers do get pissed when their lives are thrown away for nothing.

And now, it looks like the solution to this folly is thought to be more folly, better folly. Just because it didn't work out so well last time is no reason to lose faith in the efficacy of violence as a means to get one's way.